High Fives 2012 – Allan McKay

We’ve heard and read a lot this year about the death of the album as a format. Well, we’re having none of that at Riot Towers; as far as we’re concerned the album is still alive and kicking (and none of your download nonsense either). The site contributors have all put together their favourite fives of the year and we’re sharing our choices with you as a little festive thank you. As the most senior (oldest) contributor, I get to open the batting for the Riot Squad 2012 favourites. I can’t even attempt to rank these so here we go, in alphabetical order by title. You can find reviews of all of these albums on the site.

“Devil in Me” – Natalie Duncan

This is one of two debut albums in my Top Five for 2012. Natalie’s a superb singer and a great piano player but the songs are something else. Some are observational such as the superb “Old Rock” while others appear to be very personal (“Uncomfortable Silence”); what they have in common is that they are all superbly-crafted songs which work equally well when orchestrated on the album or played live with a smaller drums/bass/guitar/piano set-up. You should really make the effort to see Natalie Duncan live in 2013.

“Good Feeling” – Paul Carrack

Paul Carrack has been one of my favourite singers for longer than I care to admit so I approached this with a bit of caution; there’s always a chance that an album like this can disappoint. I didn’t need to worry because this blend of originals, songwriting collaborations and covers is absolutely superb. His voice is as stunning as it was 40 years ago and he’s great keyboard player and good guitar player; it’s sickening really. It’s worth buying for the voice alone, but there’s so much more to admire here, particularly the Nick Lowe song “From Now On” and Springsteen’s “If I Fall Behind”.

“Lilygun” – Lilygun

Another debut album, this time from a band that defies classification. I still don’t know whether this is indie, goth, rock, emo or any combination of the above. What I do know is that it’s melodic, inventive, dynamic and original and the band is great live as well. My first contact with Lilygun was a review of the single “Moonlight” and I’ve seen quite a lot of the band since. This is an album where you don’t shuffle the tracks; it’s programmed to tell a story from the first to the final track and that’s how you need to listen to it. Also featured on the album is the live favourite “Scum”.

“The Hipsters” – Deacon Blue

This seemed to come out of nowhere in the autumn of this year. All of the band members have been doing their own thing for years and the only motivation for this project was love of the music. Ricky Ross provided the strongest set of songs he’s written in years and they were recorded live in the studio; the result was an album which was fresh, immediate and memorable. I know you can’t rewrite history, but I wish this had been the second Deacon Blue album rather than the slightly bombastic “When the World Knows your Name” (and I’m not saying that’s a bad album). The songs here are much more personal; “Is There No Way Back to You?” and “Laura From Memory” are written in the first person and the ironically- titled “The Hipsters” (the best summer song of 2012) is neatly counterbalanced with the more accurate description of “The Outsiders”. However you look at it, it’s a great album.

“Words and Music” – Saint Etienne

This was the soundtrack to my summer this year. I’ve always loved Saint Etienne but I hadn’t really expected to hear any significant new material from them; This was quite a surprise. It’s the perfect package; great songs which are nostalgic but never mawkish with enough references to satisfy any pop trainspotter and the best artwork of the year. From the scene-setting opener “Over the Border”, the album explores the soul of the music obsessive through the great settings of Wiggs and Stanley and Sarah Cracknell’s perfect voice. As with every other album on this list, there isn’t any filler here but, if I have to pick a few standout tracks then “Tonight”, “Answer Song” and “Popular” should do nicely.

Ok I said Top 5, but I also need to give a mention to Dean Owens who released 2 great albums this year (“New York Hummingbird” and Cash Back”) which were both reviewed as 4-star albums. Nobody else managed that particular feat. So, does anyone still want to tell me that the album’s a dead format?